Helping apprentices rise to the top

‘An apprenticeship can take you anywhere’ is the theme of this year’s National Apprenticeship Week (14 -18 March 2016), and degree apprenticeships at Southampton Solent University are one of the ways in which employees, businesses and entrepreneurs can rise to the top.

As a leading promoter of degree apprenticeships, Solent offers an alternative route to gaining a qualification for learners of all ages – from school leavers through to experienced practitioners already in the workplace.

Professor Jane Longmore, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Solent, says: “Degree apprenticeships are a ground-breaking development that present a real chance to bridge the academic and vocational divide. They offer the flexibility we, as educators, want for our students to allow them to become the professionals of the future”.

Government and industry funded, these new programmes offer learners a workplace-focused alternative to the more traditional university experience.

Earning while they learn, degree apprentices study a curriculum designed in partnership with employers, ensuring that their studies align with the business needs of industry.

Professor Longmore continues: “Degree apprenticeships are a very new product and we have worked hard with the employers to get the product right.

“This new approach is encouraging employers and universities to work together and provides a significant opportunity to think hard about how we both contribute to the development of the professionals of the future.

“With a degree apprenticeship, the learner can continue their training and development over a whole lifetime, building on the qualification that lies at the heart of the apprenticeship.”

Southampton Solent University’s first-degree apprenticeship programme, the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship, has been approved with several more in development in subject areas including the built environment and healthcare.

More information on the apprenticeships at Solent is available on the website.